Help with my EI dosing regime

[afroturf]

Help with my EI dosing regime


I've been trying to work out what dosage I should start with for my new tank.

The tank is about 45l in volume but holds 40l of water, with substrate hardscaping etc. Lighting will be 2 x 36w compact t5 is this too much? Should I use just 1? I’ll obviously aim for 30ppm of co2.

I want to mix up solutions of the dry ferts, this is what I have come up with using for the solutions using a calculator from another forum.

33g of KNO3 to 500ml of water = 1ml of solution adds 1ppm of NO3 to the tank
7g of KH2PO4 to 250ml = 1ml adds .5ppm of PO4
1Tbsp/8g of Trace to 250ml

I was thinking of this for the dosing regime -

Sunday - 50% water change + 5ml KNO3 + 1ml KH2PO4
Monday - 5ml Trace
Tuesday - 5ml KNO3 + 1ml KH2PO4
Wednesday - 5ml Trace
Thursday - 5ml KNO3 + 1ml KH2PO4
Friday - nothing
Saturday - nothing

How does this sound? This is just as a starting point and will change levels if uptake by plants shows excesses of lack of specific nutrients.

Cheers.

 

[Themuleous]

Your maths seems good. Your dosing rate will give you a lean water column though? I would aim for 20ppm NO3 and 2ppm PO4, hell I dose 40ppm NO3 and 4ppm PO4 to one of my tanks! Also, I would dose trace on the Friday as well. With just two doses per week the tank at times will go 4days without trace, best play it safe and dose trace on the Friday as well.

Sam

 

[ceg4048]

Hi,
Check this thread. viewtopic.php?f=36&t=1211&p=11745#p11745
That ought to help. I don't know grams of powder. I've never felt a need to be that accurate. Just geta teaspoon and go for it. The data in the post is referenced to a 20G so you would just scale to half the teaspoon values. I wouldn't worry about actual water volume, it's just not necessary.

Cheers,

 

[afroturf]

Your maths seems good. Your dosing rate will give you a lean water column though? I would aim for 20ppm NO3

I didn't want to dose too highly with NO3 because the fish i entend to keep Dario dario (scarlet Badis) are quite sensitive to nitrate.

How much would 20ppm of NO3 rate in mg/l? as this is what my test kit measures in.

I would dose trace on the Friday as well. With just two doses per week the tank at times will go 4days without trace, best play it safe and dose trace on the Friday as well.

Sam

Your right decided it would be better to dose 3 times / week.

Hi,
Check this thread. viewtopic.php?f=36&t=1211&p=11745#p11745
That ought to help. I don't know grams of powder. I've never felt a need to be that accurate. Just geta teaspoon and go for it. The data in the post is referenced to a 20G so you would just scale to half the teaspoon values. I wouldn't worry about actual water volume, it's just not necessary.

Cheers,

Thats a brilliant thread, and very helpful especially the part about the mixing up of solutions. I think i have know come up with a decient dosing regime after reading it.
As the example you gave in the thread is for a 20g i will half the amounts added as my tanks about 10g

So.
For KNO3 - 3/32tsp x 12 = 1 and a bit tsp, add this to 240ml water and dose 20ml 3 times per week.
KH2PO4 - 1/32tsp x 12 = 1/3ish tsp add to 240ml and dose 20ml 3 times a week

Still a little unsure as for the Trace as the AE trace have slightly different amounts of each element as the CSM+B used in your thread and the calculators.
But this should be ok?
1/32tsp x 12 = 1/3ish tsp add to 240ml and dose 20ml 3 times a week.
(I used 240ml as this is the easiest amout to use with the bottles i have).

 

[ceg4048]

Hi Steven,
Yes, I checked the numbers and they look pretty darn good to me. Don't worry about the AE traces. Use the same calculations. The AE chelated trace are close enough. If you note any decline you'd just bump up the doses slightly but I doubt you will have any trouble with this. I noticed that you didn't include any magnesium (Mg). Again, that's fine if you know your tap water has Mg already.

For our purposes 1 mg/l is the same as 1 ml/l = 1ppm.

Regarding the scarlet badis susceptibility to NO3, I would seriously doubt they are any more sensitive than salmon which show not toxic effect up to I believe near 100ppm (I need to check this figure). There may be a susceptibility issue with the TDS incurred by the salts addition but not to inorganic fertilizers. It is more than likely that these fish have difficulty dealing with less than pristine water conditions and that organic waste buildup is the issue.

Cheers,

 

[afroturf]

I noticed that you didn't include any magnesium (Mg). Again, that's fine if you know your tap water has Mg already.

Sorry forgot about this I ordered some yesterday. I'm not sure of the levels of Mg in my tapwater, but it wont be high when I start my water changes with RO (got a new system on the way).
So again just halfing the dosage of your thread for Mg, 3tsp to 240ml, done 20ml 3 times a week.

For our purposes 1 mg/l is the same as 1 ml/l = 1ppm.

Cheers

Regarding the scarlet badis susceptibility to NO3, I would seriously doubt they are any more sensitive than salmon which show not toxic effect up to I believe near 100ppm (I need to check this figure). There may be a susceptibility issue with the TDS incurred by the salts addition but not to inorganic fertilizers. It is more than likely that these fish have difficulty dealing with less than pristine water conditions and that organic waste buildup is the issue.

Cheers,

The reason I was wary of dosing too much NO3 was that the first time I tried EI was when I was keeping some Scarlet Badis, they all soon died, where as fish like ottos didn’t which are usually very sensitive. I remember after this reading on some forum that Dario sp. can be sensitive to NO3 so I thought this was more than likely the cause of their demise. Nevertheless that was my first attempt and there weren’t your wise words and brilliant threads to help, so hopefully I’ll have better luck this time.
Cheers,